1st Edition

Constantine: Religious Faith and Imperial Policy

Edited By A. Edward Siecienski Copyright 2017
    160 Pages
    by Routledge

    160 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Constantine: Religious Faith and Imperial Policy brings together some of the English-speaking world’s leading Constantinian scholars for an interdisciplinary study of the life and legacy of the first Christian emperor. For many, he remains a "sign of contradiction" (Luke 2:34) whose life and legacy generate intense debate. He was the first Christian emperor, protector of the Church, and eventually remembered as "equal to the apostles" for bringing about the Christianization of the Empire. Yet there is another side to Constantine’s legacy, one that was often neglected by his Christian hagiographers. Some modern scholars have questioned the orthodoxy of the so-called model Christian emperor, while others have doubted the sincerity of his Christian commitment, viewing his embrace of the faith as merely a means to a political end. 



    Drawing together papers presented at the 2013 symposium at Stockton University commemorating the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan, this volume examines the very questions that have for so long occupied historians, classicists, and theologians. The papers in this volume prove once again that Constantine is not so much a figure from the remote past, but an individual whose legacy continues to shape our present.

    Notes on Contributors



    Foreword - Tom Papademetriou



    Abbreviations





    Introduction



    A. Edward Siecienski





    Part One: Debates





    Constantine and religious extremism



    H.A. Drake





    The significance of the Edict of Milan



    Noel Lenski





    Part Two: Historiography





    The sources for our sources: Eusebius and Lactantius on Constantine in 312-313



    Raymond Van Dam





    Constantine in the pagan memory



    Mark Edwards





    Writing Constantine



    David Potter





    Part Three: Legacy





    The Eusebian valorization of violence and Constantine's wars for God



    George E. Demacopoulos





    Constantine the Pious



    Peter J. Leithart

    Biography

    A. Edward Siecienski is Associate Professor of Religion and Pappas Professor of Byzantine Culture and Religion at Stockton University, New Jersey, USA. He is the author of The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy (2010) and The Papacy and the Orthodox: Sources and History of a Debate (2017).

    "Its intended audience is mostly scholars and graduate students. Students of Eusebius, in particular, of late antique religious policy, textual representations of historical figures, in obvious addition to Constantine, should find ample food for thought in this interesting book."

    - Eric Fournier, West Chester University of Pennsylvania. In Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018.04.16